The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1887-10-29
THE IORMON'S SUNDAY,
A SABBATH SCHOOL AMONG THE
FOLLOWERS OF JOSEPH SMITH.


Ceremony of Blessing the Bread and
Preparing the Sacrament for tho Chill
dren-Blessing the Water-Scripture
Reading. Bible Stories, Etc.
have been to church twice tosay-in the
morning to n Mormon Sabbath school and in
the afternoon to the services in that turtle
like structure w ich is called tho tabernacle.
What SAW and heard impressed ne most
favorahly regarding the strange people who
have found Zion among the Wasatch hills,
aud whose mission is multiplication and the
replenishnlent of the earth l shall say moth.
ing further, however, concerning my impress
sions. 1t will be best to tell my readers what
was said and done, and from this simple state
ment they can then draw their own conclu-
sions.
The Sabbath school began at 10 o'clock 1t
was held in long rectangular one story
adobe building, with pnstcred exterior walls
and commodious wings built and finished
with the same material. This is the Thir-
teenth Ward school, and there nre twenty
other similar buildings in Salt Lake City.
They are called ward assembly halls, and are
used for meetings and Sunday classes The
word ward must not he accepted i'll its no
litical senses. Bishop Mellen Atwood sat on
n long bench OIL platform at the north end
of the hail. On each side of him we're Will
liam Nnylor, superintendent of the school:
Nelson Empy, the bishops first councillor;
Hamilton G. Parks, Missionary Lyons and
two teachers. Before them was a pulpit, and
beside the pulpit OH TIE right and left were
ivI fnt SlsS ,x.;t{ tal.1
cloths and carrying several pieces of gli>ten-
ing silvcrwarc, two water pitchers, two or
three cake baskets and half dozen goLlets.
In the cake baskets We're tiny cubes of bread
each less than a toothful. The room, prob
ably 7oxao feet in dimensions, with good
high ceiling neatly frescoed and p 'esentiig
the symbols of the church-the all seeing eye
and the bre hive-was filed with benches,
by women and girls, while the men and boys
sat at the sides of the hall.
Some of the children We're toddlcrs; most of
them from 6 to s years of age. Among the
little girls in tho first line, just under the lul-
pit, were two grandchildren of Brigham
Eoung-one flaxen haired and sweet fnce,l
creature of about 8, the other younger and
darker and saucier in features, but also IL girl.
dressed, the health was on their cheeks ana
the CLEANS of happy homes i'll their eyes Vet
some Of their fathers were in the pcnitenti iary
serving terms for polygamy, and the fathers
of others We're underground, perhaps. By
underground do not mean dead. Tie term
is i'll common use here, and is applied to the
Mormons who have been indicted and are in
hiding from tho authorities. Some of the
were fresh rs flowers blooming in Il garden,
and their charming toilets seemed to pnrtake
of the mo1esty and reserve of tho wearers.
There were wee bits Of boys in ono class, and
there were sensible, sober looking young men
from Is to n years in another. More than n
dozen Of the occupants of side benches seemed
to have reached the age of 40 There were
evidences i'll the general appearance of the as
semblage of the thrift, order and neatness for
which tho Mormon people are remarkable.
The exercises opened with prayer by the
superintendent, in which he thanked Goa for
the privilege of spending another Sabbath to-
gcther, and asked new blessings Mt his hands.
Then there was n hymn. Ono of the gentle
men on the platform next rected a PRAYER,
and Il second hymn followed Then Bishop
Atwood took tho pulpit and told the
and prepare the sacrament He explained
the meaning OF the communion and said the
bread was blessed and broken in comnelno-
ration of the body of Christ 1t was grand
privilege to be permitted to rartnle of the
sacramento privilege that was granted only
to the true children of God. The few words
point. Tho tclilercst child could understand
alan 30
is made every Sunday, and the children are
each time told to take the bread with their
right hand md to be sure that the hand is
uncovered.
Immediately after the bishop said this to.
day, tho little ones began pulling off their
gloves nml mitts The bread was blessed
in n few words, the Lord being called upon
to sanctify it md to extend his sanctifcation
to 'he boiles of those who received it. After
Lhe blessing two small boys came forward,
and, taking the cake BASKETS passed them
along the seats. Every person in the building
except The correspondent took one of the
cubes of bread and ntc it. Some little
ones grabbed up cube md clnpped it
into their mouths with IL grin. Others dipped
their left hands into the basket but were
quickly corrected One or two of the old
though, was inpressivcly administered, and
do not think the statement made by Gentiles
will hold. t!lut the Mornon's method of deal.
ing with The viaticum is sacrllcyious. 1t does
look rather foolish to allow q ycal-oia chill.
drcn to partake of it, but nearly every one of
the old people present to day began to eat
the blessed bread in such assemllages as this
when they were youngsters, and they do not
r..
their appreciation of the sacred quality of
the proceeding While the bread was bcing
pa sed around, n sacrumental hymn, written
hy Eliza II. Snow, the Mormon poctess, now
agcd s3 years, was sung.
The next thing in order was blessing the
waite Missionary Lyon did this using tho
same formula as that spoken in blessing the
bread Bishop Atwood had explained in his
talk 10 the children that water is used instead
of wine, because Joseph Smith had the fact
revealed to h.!n that vino was ntlutAratcd,
and it was better to use pure water than bad
wine; after awhile, when the people became
richer, Wine would be used in the sacrament
Tic water that was blessed was contained in
the silver pithcrs. Gobets were filed and
passed around, each individual taking n sip
"Beautiful Zion" was sung, and after that
sons. Tie children went into one room with
teuchcrs-thc young men into another The
ladies sat i'll their seats and read Wilere they
We're. The youngsters were told Bible Stories
The old folks read the Scriptures, and the
young men, who constituted what was called
theological class, read from the Book of
Mormon In twenty minutes they reassem-
bled, and the school sang.
Missionary Lyon commended the progress
which the school was making, and told his
henrers to fear God and do no evil Then
Mr.. Parks, who is, 1 believe, high priest,
spoke the benediction, asking the Lord to
bless the church and its children and its
officials, and to send wisdom and the light of
the Gospel into the hearts of those who were
expressing the Church Of Jesus Christ. This
ended the school exercises.-Salt Lake Cor
Globe Democrat.
A C0achlnan's Observation.
II was once coachman for the duke Of.
and he had no finer horses than these in ell